Scars
by nilesalt
Summary: Thalia's feelings about Luke, before and after the 'pine tree stage'. Based on Christina Perri's 'Jar of Hearts'. Thaluke.


Hi! Yes, I am very much alive and here with a oneshot. Summer hols are time to write – or type – fanfics. So, here I am.

Anyway, I heard the song 'Jar of Hearts' by Christina Perri the other day and thought that it described - word for word - the relationship between the two characters who could've got together in another time, another place or another world. Thaluke.

The lyrics are in italics and I had to cut out the repeated bits, but hey, it works! Hope you like it!

 **Disclaimer:** I'm pretty awesome, but I'm not as awesome as Rick Riordan to make the Percy Jackson characters. Neither can I sing or write songs; Christina Perri owns 'Jar of Hearts'.

* * *

~ Scars ~

~ A Thaluke Oneshot ~

* * *

 _I know I can't take one more step towards you_ _  
_ _Cause all that's waiting is regret_

Thalia couldn't move. Luke was here. Alive. Solid. And very much on the dark side. The twelve year old girl hidden inside her wanted to run up, and hug him right there on Mount Othrys ignoring everyone else, but the fifteen-year-old girl in her told her to hold her ground. She knew he was bitter about their parents, but she hadn't know the hate would spill over, change his views, change his choices. Luke's once carefree smiling face was twisted, and cruel; a scar marred the vision of the boy she thought she knew.

* * *

 _Don't you know I'm not your ghost_ _any more  
_ _You lost the love I loved the most_

Had she ever crossed his mind? Did she haunt him through his dreams before he left the camp? Millions of emotions and thoughts flashed across her mind, but Thalia knew her face betrayed nothing. She had mastered the poker face at a young age, to mask the feelings and emotions when she thought of the people she loved. People like her lost brother. People like Annabeth. People like Luke.

* * *

 _I learned to live half alive_ _  
_ _And now you want me one more time_ _..._ _  
_

"Join us, Thalia" he said. And she was half tempted to. But Thalia forced the voice in the back of her head to go away and looked at Annabeth who was gagged had her hands tied behind her back. How could Luke do that to the same girl he comforted and promised to protect? Who would say that Thalia herself wouldn't have the same fate?

* * *

 _And who do you think you are,_ _  
_ _Running around leaving scars_

Thalia couldn't remember how many times the both of them had helped each other when cleaning the cuts with ambrosia and nectar, or doing first aid when they didn't have the godly supplies. Even after her time as a pine tree, some of the scars were still there. But some scars weren't skin deep or visible. The ones he made ran much further, in her heart.

* * *

 _Collecting your jar of hearts_ _  
_ _And tearing love apart_ _,_

Thalia kept her promise. Annabeth kept her promise. What happened to his?

* * *

 _You're gonna catch a cold_ _  
_ _From the ice inside your soul_

His blue eyes which once looked like the colour of the clear skies on a sunny day, were now clouded. Cold and conflicted, cruel and changed. They say 'the eyes are a window to the soul'. And if they were, Luke's soul would be as cold as ice.

* * *

 _So don't come back for me_ _.  
_ _Who do you think you are_ _?  
_

In plain words, Luke had changed. Transformed, reconstructed, reformed, turned. But Thalia wasn't sure she wanted to know what _exactly_ he had turned into.

* * *

 _I hear you're asking all around_ _  
_ _If I am anywhere to be found_

Thalia remembered the time when they were in the cyclops' mansion. When the cyclops imitated his voice, she could've never felt more safe in that situation. But now, every time he spoke was like a stab in the heart.

* * *

 _But I have grown too strong_ _  
_ _To ever fall back in your arms_ _  
_

There was a time when they stood back to back, swords out, ready to die for one another. Trusted each other with their lives. It seemed ironic that now they had turned round and had their swords on one another, after their... _complicated_ past. They say, 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder'. True, Thalia's absence had been life long sentance until a while ago, so their situaton had been rather problematic. But even then, her 'absence' hadn't make Luke grow fonder in any way. It was quite the opposite. Bitterness had overcome and changed his heart.

* * *

 _And it took so long just to feel alright_ _  
_ _Remember how to put back the light in my eyes_

Not many people could make Thalia laugh. But Luke was one of the few who broke down Thalia's walls and made her the small innocent girl who didn't have a care or worry in the world. The weight of responsibility would lift off her shoulders and she would become free.

* * *

 _I wish I had missed the first time that we kissed_ _  
_ _Cause you broke all your promises_

They only shared one kiss. It was on Half Blood Hill, just after Thalia said she would stay behind and fight. She doubted Annabeth saw; Grover was helping her get up from tripping over a tree root, and she always suspected he thought they were together, as a couple. How wrong. Thalia would give anything to rid of the memory, but she could never forget it. It was a rash desision, on Luke's part, but when she felt their lips touch, everthing stopped for a moment. Time slowed down around them and Thalia could only feel Luke, his lips on her lips, his hands cradling her face, her hands in his hair. Just the two of them. Their first kiss, but their last moment together.

* * *

 _And now you're back_ _  
_ _You don't get to get me back_ _  
_

She had her head down; unable to look him in the eye. Not now, not ever, would he get her back, Thalia vowed that.

* * *

 _Don't come back for me_

 _Don't come back at all_

Thalia raised her head. In her mind's eye, she saw an enemy, an opponnent, a traitor. Not Luke. Then they charged.

* * *

 _Who do you think you are?_

 _Who do you think you are?_

 _Who do you think you are?_

Family, Luke. You promised...

* * *

 _~Fin~_


End file.
